Spotlight on five prominent new Liberal MPs in Metro Vancouver

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British Columbians elected a record 17 Liberal members of parliament during Monday's 42nd Canadian general election.

The previous high for Grit representation in B.C. was 16 in 1968 during the first wave of Trudeau-mania — the one inspired by Pierre Elliott, Justin Pierre James' father — when the province only had 23 federal ridings, compared to 42 now.

The Liberal gains in B.C. — specifically the Lower Mainland — were dramatic. In the 2011 election, the party, under the leadership of Michael Ignatieff, claimed just two seats in B.C. Of the 15 new Liberal MPs, 13 are in Metro Vancouver.

Here is a look at five prominent new Liberal MPs:

Jody Wilson-Raybould, Vancouver Granville

The newly formed riding, formed after the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution, was supposed to be one most hotly contested races in B.C., but in the end Wilson-Raybould ran away with the victory by garnering 44 per cent of the votes.

A 44-year-old former crown prosecutor served a regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations from 2009 until 2015, when she chose to run for federal politics. She is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation.

Married to Dr. Tim Raybould, a Cambridge scholar and management consultant, Wilson-Raybould is the daughter of Bill Wilson, a lawyer and prominent aboriginal leader and uses Puglass — the native name given to her by her grandmother — as her Twitter handle. It means "a woman born to noble people."

Randeep Sarai, Surrey Centre

Another new riding, Surrey Centre was formed from a portion of the former Surrey North, that was held by New Democrat Jasbir Sandhu.

On Monday, Sarai, a political neophyte, easily defeated the incumbent by winning 45.1 per cent of the popular vote, compared to 30.1 per cent for Sandhu and 19.8 per cent of Conservative Sucha Thind.

A lawyer who specializes in contract dispute and facility litigation, Sarai's official Liberal bio says he was "a founder and has served as a Director of Virsa-Supporting Youth Strengthening Families Society and helped start South Asian Community Coalition Against Youth Violence which successfully championed for the creation of the Integrated Gang Task Force."

Harjit Sajjan, Vancouver South

An 11-year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department and former Lieutenant-Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, Sajjan was touted as one of the Liberals' "star candidates" heading into election and he lived up to his billing on Monday as wrestled the seat away from incumbent Conservative Wai Young. Sajjan captured 48.4 per cent of the vote, impressive for a first-time candidate. A highly decorated soldier, Sajjan served once in Bosnia and three times in Afghanistan. Born in a small town in India, Sajjan was five when he immigrated with his family to Canada. He is married Dr. Kuljit Kaur Sajjan, a family doctor, and they have two young children.

Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country

Goldsmith-Jones, a veteran of North Shore municipal politics, easily wrestled the traditionally Conservative riding away from two-term MP John Weston. Goldsmith-Jones, whose 12-year municipal government career including stints as a city councillor in North Vancouver and West Vancouver, and two terms as mayor of West Vancouver (2005-2011), captured twice as many votes (35,818 to 17,191) as Weston, her nearest competitor. Goldsmith-Jones stepped away from politics in 2011 to complete her executive MBA at Simon Fraser University, specializing in Aboriginal Business and Leadership.

Terry Beech, Burnaby North-Seymour

Beech pulled off a surprise Liberal win in the new riding that had been pegged as battleground between the Conservative Mike Little, a long-time councillor for the District of North Vancouver and New Democrat Carol Baird Ellan, former provincial court judge. At 18, Beech became the youngest person ever elected to public office in B.C. when he won a seat on Nanaimo city council in 2002. After leaving public service, Beech attended Capilano University and Simon Fraser University before moving to England to earn his MBA from Oxford. As a tech CEO, he co-founded hiretheworld.com and was named one of "B.C.'s Top 40 Under 40" in 2013 by Business In Vancouver magazine.

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Spotlight on five prominent new Liberal MPs in Metro Vancouver

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